Covid-19: its impact on academic library employees - kind request for assistance with a short survey

Ronan Cox (@ronancox2) - Business Librarian, Dublin City University

 

I am posting this piece to kindly ask for your assistance completing a short survey (about 7 minutes) as part of my MSc in Work and Organisational Behaviour. It has direct relevance to academic library employees and the impact Covid continues to have on how we approach our jobs.

In the wake of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are feeling the pressure to adopt new technological developments while also managing their employees work experience. Against this backdrop, there has also been a shift in the relationship between organisation and employee. 

It can be argued the way we work has changed and more than ever, organisations need employees to be resilient, proactive, energetic and fully engaged in their work. The repercussions of Covid-19 on the workplace will be felt for years to come and faced with this new reality, employees must continually adapt to new contexts, interact with others differently, and use appropriate coping strategies to manage shifting job demands and instances of job change.

Research has concluded that individuals are predisposed to respond in certain ways when faced with change. As organisations and employees respond to the changing work environment, it can be argued that fostering a positive disposition toward change is critical to future individual and organisational success. 

Against the backdrop of Covid-19, the rationale for my research is to explore if academic library employees utilise adaptive coping skills to engage in behaviours designed to manage their changing job tasks better. And in doing so, does it result in increased person-job balance and positive work outcomes.

Benefits of this research will include:
1.    Insight into how academic library employees manage their jobs
2.    Insight into how academic library employees think and plan for personal development
3.    An understanding of how the impact of Covid is affecting academic library employees 

Should you wish to participate, please find the survey here.

Also, if you think your colleagues (Ireland or International) might be interested, please feel free to share the survey link.

The intended research sample is any employee working in an academic library environment, regardless of position.

All responses are very gratefully received and I will post a summary of the results when analysed!

Best,

Ronan